Accuses Rose of gambling while playing
Dowd releases documents that prove Rose bet on baseball while an active player, including copies of pages from a notebook from the home of Bertolini during a raid by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in 1989. The notebook is currently in the National Archives’ New York office, where officials decline requests to release it. Dowd:
This does it. This closes the door…We knew that [Bertolini] recorded the bets, and that he bet himself, but we never had his records. We tried to get them. He refused to give them to us. This is the final piece of the puzzle on a New York betting operation with organized crime. And, of course, [Rose] betting while he was a player. Bertolini nails down the connection to organized crime on Long Island and New York. And that is a very powerful problem…The implications for baseball are terrible. [The mob] had a mortgage on Pete while he was a player and manager.
Rose:
Since we submitted the application earlier this year, we committed to MLB that we would not comment on specific matters relating to reinstatement. I need to maintain that. To be sure, I’m eager to sit down with [MLB commissioner Rob] Manfred to address my entire history — the good and the bad — and my long personal journey since baseball. That meeting likely will come sometime after the All-Star break. Therefore at this point, it’s not appropriate to comment on any specifics. Bertolini’s lawyer, Nicholas De Feis, said his client is not interested in speaking to anyone about these issues.
MLB TV Interview
Zobrist talks about his role on the team and what he expects for the 2015 season.
It was a little bit of a shock at first, being traded after being there for so long, it felt like a family and stuff. That was hard for the first few days. It was really touching, some of the things they wrote in the paper. And we’ve heard from a lot of people, a lot of fans that appreciated the way I played the game there. Frankly, the area was just really good to us, the people there and the team and everything. I’ll always look back on that as a special time. But this is a new chapter in our baseball life, and we’re enjoying that now.
Opening night starter
Gray will be the opening night starter against the Texas Rangers for second consecutive year. Coach Melvin:
I do have a big announcement today. You guys may want to sit down…It was a matter of letting [Gray] know for sure. But I mean, he’s made for this. It’s who he is. He’s extremely competitive. He’s talented. He loves the spotlight games. If anyone was made for it, it was him.
Press conference
The team announces Maddon as their manager.
At the end of the day, unless we are aligned perfectly it’s not going to work. It just can’t work. That’s the way the game has evolved to this point. The autocratic manager of yesteryear has gone. It’s not just about one guy any more…to be philosophically aligned with these guys is important to me.
